By Mike Drooger –

The Edgerton Flying Dutchmen girls’ basketball team ventured to Pipestone on Monday night, January 17, for a non-conference affair with the Pipestone Area Arrows. Coach Andrew Fleischman and his squad were dealt a huge blow far before the game even began when they learned do-everything sophomore Alyda Vande Griend would not be available. She was left home on the farm due to illness. PAS Coach Ed Gustafson likely didn’t express a lot of sympathy to Fleischman because Gustafson was missing his 6’3” center, Arinn McGee, who was out with an injury.

With Vande Griend out of the contest, PAS’s mission became pretty clear. “We’re going to tighten up our defense to keep the ball away from Reece Wassink and force Edgerton to shoot from the outside, and then we have to rebound,” Coach Gustafson said in his pregame radio interview with Bill Van Hoecke of KLOH radio.

PAS’s plan of attack worked in the end as they won 49-43 even though Wassink finished with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field and the charity stripe. The remainder of Edgerton’s roster finished 10-for-39 (25 percent) from the field, which was a huge improvement from the first half when Wassink was 4-for-6 for 12 points and her team was 0-for-21. The only point in the first half that wasn’t scored by Wassink was a free throw by Brenalyn Smit, and Edgerton trailed at intermission 13-27.

The Dutchmen, who shot 15 percent in the first half, made a game of it after intermission. At the 15:50 mark, the Arrows made two charity tosses for a 31-17 lead. Then Edgerton kicked it in high gear. Emma Schoolmeester, who started for Vande Griend, got a steal and layup. Braelyn Kracht then assisted Miriam Ockenga. Ockenga scored again, this time with a left-handed power move down low off the glass for two. Then the coach’s daughter, Elliot Fleischman, got involved in a big way with a steal and layup before she hit a long two-pointer to pull EHS to within 27-36, which prompted a PAS timeout.